Korea's Indent Corp. raises $8 mn for AI-based video review marketing

Indent Corporation, a South Korean startup that operates an AI-based video review marketing solution called VReview, announced on Tuesday that it had raised 10.5 billion won ($8 million) in a Series A funding round. The company has raised a total of 16.2 billion won in funding to date.

The latest funding round was led by new investors LG Uplus Corp., Korea Investment Partners, CRIT Ventures, and Aekyung Industrial, and joined by existing investors SV Investment and FuturePlay Inc. Indent Corporation plans to raise another 2 billion won in the first half of the year and close the Series A round with multiple closings.

VReview is a solution that collects video reviews from product buyers using AI chatbots and uploads them to online shopping malls. The company said it helps increase the sales of its business-to-business (B2B) customers by providing them with authentic and engaging video content. VReview has around 3,800 customers.

In addition to VReview, Indent Corporation also operates a short-form video review commerce platform called Spray and an automated marketing platform called AMP, which is expected to launch officially in the first half of the year. The company aims to transition to a B2B2C commerce model based on the video.

The investors praised Indent Corporation as a leader in the emerging field of short-form commerce, also known as fourth-generation commerce. "We recognized Indent Corporation as a leading player in the short-form market, which has become a global trend. We believe it will grow to compete with international companies on the global stage," said Park Jung-hwan, head of SV Investment.

"We will focus on increasing customer satisfaction, not just on the technology itself, and become an icon representing the review commerce market," said Yoon Tae-seok, the founder and CEO of Indent Corporation.

Write to Jong-Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com